CORNISH?All Blacks skipper, Lloyd Duke, hopes to play for at least another five years after racking up his 150th appearance for the club during the 15-15 draw with Bideford on Saturday, February 17.

The 27-year-old openside flanker was a latecomer to the sport, only joining Launceston Rugby Club as a 16-year-old.

However, despite the late start, he soon made an impression around Polson Bridge with his never-say-die attitude and work-rate.

After playing a handful of games for the under 16s, he joined the Colts section, which at the time ran until under 19s, and worked his way into the first team picture.

But Dukeadmits that he never believed that he’d represent his hometown club.

He said: “The first team at that time were pretty good and as a young boy you never think that you’ll make it into the first team so to make 150 apperances for the club is brilliant.

“After a while in the Colts, a few of us were asked to turn up to training early to train with the first team boys, which got us used to it and in the end I started playing some second team games as well as playing for the colts.

“Then in December 2009 the firsts were playing Manchester, who lost every game in National?League One that season, and the coach at the time, Jon Hill, wanted to give some of the younger players some experience. He gave me and Adam Collings a debut off the bench but we didn’t think the game was even going to be on. It was snowing all week but Crispin (Earle) worked his magic and the game was played and we won 66-0.

“Although that was my only appearance that season it was remarkable to be thrust into a professional environment after not taking it that seriously.”

Although rugby is his passion, Duke is a farmer by trade, working on his dad Graham’s farm at Bridgetown near Boyton, and it soon became more important.

Duke said: “In April 2010 we took on a second unit on the farm and with work commitments and the fact that I wasn’t good enough for the first team at the time and with all the travelling we had to do, I decided to go and play for Bude for a year in the Western Counties (West) League.

“It gave me the chance to go and play regular, competitive rugby, but I only lasted about half a a season as I broke my leg in February down at Penryn.”

During the 2010/11 season Launceston were relegated from National League One after suffering a 20-point points deduction due to going into administration, meaning they were back in National?League Two (South), the fourth-tier of English rugby.

And it was then where Duke started to make his mark.

He said: “I then went back to Launceston for pre-season and the competiton for places in the back-row positions was pretty fierce and Tom Rawlings who played at seven was the captain.

“I was then asked to become the second team captain. I took it because it’s a great honour to be a captain of any team but in the back of my mind I maybe thought I wouldn’t get many first team chances.

“However I managed to get on the bench a couple of times before Christmas and then after that I was on the bench nearly every week. It was a lot of travelling for not a lot of rugby but that’s the way it was.

“The year after (2012/13) was my first year starting a bit and I was in the matchday squad every week and the year after was when everyone started to leave and I started a lot more games, probably around 60%.”

By the start of the 2014/15 season many of Launceston’s best ever players had gone and the club was going through change as well as trying to preserve their National League Two status.

Although they managed that with some excellent late season form, Duke, who was starting every week, admits that Plymouth Albion’s relegation from the Championship hit the club hard.

He said: “We finished the 2014/15 season really well and we said that if we could stick together we could push on and become a top four or five club.

“However the season when Albion went down we lost about 17 or 18 players and the writing was on the wall.”

The 2015/16 season couldn’t have gone much worse.

Forced to field a number of young players, who weren’t ready for the rigours of National?League rugby, the All Blacks went down, losing all but one of their 30 games. But by the end of the season Duke had much more to worry about than just Saturdays.

In current head of rugby, Jimmy Tucker’s first game in charge — a 17-17 draw at home to Southend Saxons, Duke was knocked out.

He said: “The 2015/16 season was incredibly hard and it was also a bad season personally.

“I got kneed in the head against Southend and I never really recovered, I had constantly bad headaches and I couldn’t really train.

“I had a headache from October to April and I was told I had heavy bruising on the top of my skull. By the end of the season I didn’t know what to do because of the potential damage to my health.

“However, the off-season did it good. During that summer I also got married to Sami and I missed a fair bit of pre-season due to the wedding and honeymoon etc and we agreed to give it the first month and then reassess if I keep getting headaches.

“However in the second session back I got told I was the new first team captain and it was a weird situation because although it was my greatest moment playing for Launceston, I thought to myself that I’ve got to help the team and lead by example but at the same time I wasn’t even sure how long I was going to be able to keep playing for. But once I got through the first month I was fine.

“At the start I felt a bit of pressure of making sure that I wasn’t letting anyone down. The first half of last season was really hard. The boys were trying their hardest but the year before had left a lot of scars and it takes a lot to get over.

“Before I became captain I’d hardly ever say more than a couple of sentences, so to be thrust into the role was very different. I was trying to get everyone motivated and I had to learn as I went about what to say to different players to get them motivated, and I took it really badly when I couldn’t with some of them.”

Despite a brilliant turnaround after Christmas they were relegated to South West One (West) — the sixth tier of English rugby for the 2017/18 season.

At present they’re third in the table and Duke has been relatively pleased.

He said: “Up to about three weeks ago we’ve been looking alright.

“We’ve had three off games in a row and we need to make sure that the season doesn’t just fritter away and make sure that we finish well clear of fourth and fifth as third wouldn’t be a bad season for us.”

As a player, Duke is well-liked by the Polson Bridge faithful with his all-action style, and has also notched an impressive ten tries this term, more than he’s scored in the whole of his career.

He said: “When I first came into the team I was really fit but I think I’ve improved my play and become more more clever with what I do and I’m better at anticipating things.?I like to think that I’m hard working and hopefully that’s good enough.”

Duke also praised his father for his support and installing that mentality and admits that playing with his brother Jordan makes it even better.

He said: “Although dad had to give up rugby at the age of 24 due to work and that, he’s never been to pushy with me. He’s very encouraging and I think the main thing I’ve taken from him is the importance of training and working hard and?I think that’s helped me throughout and got me into the first team picture in the first place.

“Playing with Jordan is great. We don’t talk about it, but to have played over 50 times with him is something that not many people can say, and to do it in National Two even though we were in a poor side is pretty special.”

So how long does Duke want to continue?

He said: “I hope that I have at least five years in me but obviously that depends on how well the team does. There’s a lot less pressure on your body in the lower leagues but I also want Launceston to go up.

“When?I took on the captaincy I wanted the team and the club to be in a better position than when I took it on. I wanted the boys to interact more with the supporters and I think we’ve done that.”